Page 98 of State of Alert

“I made her promise there won’t be any stupid games or other such bullshit and that she won’t go dumb in the head about talking to you.”

Sam laughed. “Appreciate that.” She shuddered. “I hate shower games. Why do we wrap our friends in toilet paper just because they’re getting married?”

Lindsey laughed. “Couldn’t agree more. I told Margo I wantsomething classy and elegant. No nonsense. I think she understands, but I’m counting on you to keep her on track.”

“I’ll do my best for you, Doc. Who else is in the wedding party?”

“A cousin, who’s local, two college friends and a med school friend. The three of them live on the West Coast.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

“You’ll be glad to know I’ve spared you the wedding party group chat.”

Smiling, Sam said, “You really do know me, but don’t leave me out of anything I need to know. I assume there’ll be a bachelorette party?”

Lindsey recoiled. “Absolutely not. I’m not a twenty-two-year-old nitwit.”

“Aw, come on! I already bought the dildos and handcuffs.”

“If you were ever quoted saying that, the scandal would be enormous.”

“Let’s make sure that doesn’t get out.”

Lindsey pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. “Thank you for being in my wedding party, even though you don’t have time to breathe.”

“Anything for you, kid. Happy to be included. Back to work I go. Thanks again for the autopsy summary.”

“No problem.”

As she returned to the pit, Sam was glad to be back on track with Lindsey, even as she cringed at the many ways bridal showers could be ridiculous. For Lindsey, however, she’d step up to the bridesmaid plate with a smile on her face.

“Everyone in the conference room for updates.”

Sam went into her office to take a closer look at Lindsey’s full report before she joined the others in the conference room to convey the ME’s findings to her team. “Cruz, please let Lieutenant Haggerty know we’re looking for a smooth object as the murder weapon, possibly something like a baseball bat.”

Freddie texted the info to Haggerty.

“Lindsey confirmed that Elaine died after a single blow from this smooth object. There were no puncture wounds or anything to indicate texture on the murder weapon. We spoke with Elaine’s brother, Chuck, in Manassas. He confirmed that Elaine talked to him about problems with her daughters, and we learned more about their sister Sarah’s abduction and murder.”

“That poor guy,” Neveah said. “To lose both his sisters to murder.”

“Indeed.” Sam worried about Neveah being close to murder all the time when her own mother’s killing from years ago remained unsolved.

“Did anything about him stand out as suspicious?” Cameron asked.

“Not to me,” Sam said, glancing at Freddie.

He shook his head. “Not at all. He was genuinely grief-stricken, in my opinion.”

“One thing he said stood out to me,” Sam said. “He mentioned Elaine had trouble with herdaughters, plural, while the family led us to believe Zoe, the older one, was the problem.”

“You want to take a closer look at Jada?” Freddie asked, sounding surprised.

“I want to know more about where she was yesterday and speak to the people she was with. Call Frank and get the info on the family who took her to the Civil War sites.”

Freddie left the room to make the call.

“What else have we got?”

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